Chasing deadlines and eating frogs

“Sometimes you’re flush and sometimes you’re bust, and when you’re up, it’s never as good as it seems, and when you’re down, you never think you’ll be up again, but life goes on.” Fred Jung, Blow.

Today was just awful. Nobody died, I still have my health, things will get better but today really sucked ass. I just had this nagging feeling all morning that something was wrong and it fed into absolutely everything I tried to do.

Deadlines: The bain of a content writer

I slept in this morning for the first time in weeks, I’m not sure why, and just knew it was one of those days. I tried to shake it off; took a shower, contemplated shaving, got dressed and went for breakfast in the usual spot – a small cafe on the corner nearby. My to-do list was pretty ambitious for the day but that was nothing out of the ordinary for a travel content writer.

Immediately after breakfast, emails and messages, I sat down to start writing the first of four articles. But absolutely nothing would come. Not one sentence. I was suddenly incapable of writing and of course the irony in all of this, is that I am writing about this now. In the end, I spent the most part of the morning and afternoon getting nothing done and as a writer with tight deadlines, this is such a horrible feeling to have.

Eating the Frog

Then I remembered something an instructor told me while training to become a travel consultant in Calgary. Brent was telling us that some days we’ve just got to eat the frog. What is the green frog? Well, I’m not sure how to describe him exactly but he is basically that little shit who was sitting in front of me all morning. He was watching me get out of bed, he was eating my breakfast, and he was the very first article along with every one that came afterward. But there was no point ignoring him or doing something else, as he was never going away until I ate him. So I did – I ate him four times.

I guess it’s true, that when you’re up, it’s never really as good as it seems, and when you’re down, you never think you’ll be up again, but life does go on and no matter what happens, you’ve still got to eat the god damn frog.

Uncharted Traveller

See the bald ginger head on the left? That would be mine. I’m Derek. I started travel writing many years ago but got caught up along the way, working for the man in the real world. However, I grew tired of staying in the one place all the time and decided to leave conventional living behind for good. Since then, I have been travelling the world with absolutely no plan, other than to go any place that looks interesting. It may sound simple, but that’s because it is, when you want it to be.

Just south of the Arctic circle lies a magical island - the land of fire and ice, the ever mesmerizing Iceland. Iceland in winter is a very different place to Iceland in summer. Sub-zero temperatures, bone-chilling winds and harsh conditions are prevalent, but the photographic rewards are accordingly immense.